Audacity Leveler to reduce background noise

Leveler is the compressor-limiter function of the free and open-source audio editing software Audacity.

A secondary feature of Leveler called Noise Threshold is extremely useful in reducing background noise.  You can fool Leveler into subtracting most of your background noise by first using Amplify to set the volume of your audio to a new peak amplitude of about -20 dB.  Then set Leveler to Light, and the Noise Threshold to -20 dB.  When you click OK, Leveler automatically deletes the softest sounds, such as background hum.  Then you can use Amplify to raise the volume again – the sounds that have been deleted will not come back.

Clip fix! in Audacity

Ah-ha!  I've been going through the Audacity online tutorials and manuals to make an instructional manual for CJSF, and I read about a plug-in called Clip Fix.  Tried it and it works! If you overmodulated your audio [that is, it sounds bad because it was recorded too loud], you can make it sound much better with this.  Find it under Effects drop-down menu in the Audacity audio editing software.

Inspiring story about prison radio in UK

It started in one youth facility and became a national policy. http://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/newbay/rwi_201403/

Current Audacity Tutorials

Audacity is the most commonly used audio editing software at CJSF.  It is free and open source, and cross-platform, so you can put it on your own computer without cost.  There are versions for Windows, Mac, and Linux.  
Sourceforge, the organization that coordinates the development of this software, has a collection of tutorials online at http://manual.audacityteam.org/man/Tutorials

Here's the table of contents:

• Editing an Existing Audio File

How to import an audio file into Audacity (for example, an MP3 music file), edit it, then export the result.

• Your First Recording

Detailed instructions on connecting your audio source (be it a microphone, guitar or keyboard) to your computer, and then recording that source with Audacity.

• Mixing a Narration With Background Music

How to edit a narration to fit the pace of the background music, and fade down the music so your listeners can hear your narration, useful in particular for podcasts.

• Recording Multi-track Overdubs

A set of tutorials on making multi-track recordings, using three different specialist hardware configurations or using your computer's on-board sound card.

• Copying tapes, LPs or MiniDiscs to CD or your computer

Detailed instructions on connecting your turntable, tape deck or MiniDisc player to your computer, recording from that device, then editing and exporting the recording so that you have separate audio files for each song on the original source ready to burn to a CD or import into a media player such as iTunes.

• Recording audio playing on the computer

How to record audio that is playing on the computer such as streaming audio from Internet websites.

• Vocal Removal and Isolation

Techniques which on some stereo tracks may allow you to remove or isolate vocals (or other parts of a recording) from the rest.

• Making Ringtones

How to make ringtones for your cellphone with Audacity and move them to the phone.

Example Workflows

The following tutorials provide sample workflows for common tasks using Audacity:

• Sample workflow for LP digitization

• Sample workflow for exporting to iTunes

• Recording 78rpm records

Tutorial: Audacity Audio Editing for the Sight Impaired

Audacity Audio Editing using the JAWS screen reader for Windows -

• Using Audacity 2.0.5 with the JAWS screen reader for Windows - includes useful tips for the visually impaired (and others) who want to use Audacity without a mouse. 

 http://vip.chowo.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/jaws/Audacity-2.0.5-Guide.html

Audacity is a free and open-source audio editing software widely used at CJSF and other campus and community radio stations.  The latest Windows version (2.05) can be downloaded at:  http://audacity.sourceforge.net/download/windows

JAWS software, including a free demo version, can be found here:
http://www.freedomscientific.com/downloads/jaws/jaws-downloads.asp

Fire Safety in a Studio (video)

Exciting video of a fire in a studio while announcer is on the air.  Stalwart announcer sticks to his script the whole time.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6ineWV8BGXo

Skype for Interviews - a tutorial

"After years of discouraging the use of Skype for interviews here at The Conversations Network, we’re now saying a resounding Yes!
Paul Figgiani and I have prepared this audiovisual presentation that covers all you need to know in order to get true broadcast-quality Skype recordings." - Doug Kaye

http://www.blogarithms.com/2007/12/23/skype-for-interviews/

Another way to reduce noise using Audacity

I think this works - tell me how it works for you:

If  you have bothersome low-level background noise in your audio, try this:  Choose Amplify from the pulldown menu, and amplify by about -15 dB.  Choose Leveller from the pulldown menu, and set it to Light and to Noise Threshold of -20 dB.  Click OK.  After the processing finishes, choose Amplify again and click OK to raise the level by the suggested amount.  The softer noises that were deleted during the Leveller processing don't come back up. 

Personal histories of CBC Radio Broadcasters - audio

If you're wondering how your favourite CBC broadcasters got their start, listen to interviews in this series from CIUT community radio - available on SoundCloud.  https://soundcloud.com/kevincaners/sets/broadcasting-canada

Why Quality matters in media production

Why Quality matters in media production

22 Nov 2013

In the latest addition to his series of explanatory videos, Dr David Wood tackles the topic Quality Headroom, using a popular childrens' party game to explain why it's important.

http://www.go-eurovision.com/cms/render/live/en/sites/ebu/contents/news/2013/11/why-quality-matters-in-media-pro.html#.UpLmZh9xWVY.facebook

Free online converter for online file formats - UNAVAILABLE NOW

 APPARENTLY GOOGLE HAS BEEN AFTER THESE FOLKS AND THEIR SITE IS CURRENTLY NOT WORKING.

This sophisticated free online clip converter lets you put in the url of the clip you are interested in and convert it to mp3. It works with YouTube and quite a few other kinds of sites.  It lets you make a lot of choices including where to start and end the conversion from a longer video, what meta-data you'd like to put in id3 tag - you can even choose your mp3 bitrate - for most radio station purposes, choose 192kbps. http://www.clipconverter.cc/

File conversion and other functions for free

 Free "Studio Manager" software

 http://www.dvdvideosoft.com/free-dvd-video-software.htm#.UmrJyBAs18E

With this free software you can:
- convert video and audio files between different formats as well as iPod, PSP, iPhone, BlackBerry and all other popular mobile phones and devices;
- burn and rip DVDs and audio CDs;
- upload and download YouTube videos and music to your computer, iPod, PSP, iPhone or BlackBerry;
- perform basic editing of audio and video files;
- record videos and make snapshots;
- create 3D videos and images.

Thanx to Marko for finding this.

Getting Audio from YouTube - New Info

 http://www.vidtomp3.com/
Thanks to Marko for sharing this web page for ripping audio from YouTube (by permission only, of course). This is good to know because the Download Helper plug-in for Firefox that I used to recommend has been disabled. - Frieda

Worst Interview Ever - do not emulate!

Sarah Buchanan shared this as her example of "worst interview ever."  http://www.buzzfeed.com/andrewkaczynski/is-this-the-most-embarrassing-interview-fox-news-has-ever-do

Portable Recorders - examples

This is a page from the B&H store in New York, which has some of the better prices (US dollars) for audio field recorders.  You can see a lot of choices of what new recorders are available these days.  http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/buy/Recorders-Duplicators/ci/12164/N/4294550650

CJSF General Manager Magnus Thyvold talks about CJSF's role and what it offers

https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=LSWydq4EN-A#at=246

Writing Headlines for Groundwire Canadian Campus-Community Radio News

Here's a nice Google doc on How to Write Headlines for Groundwire*

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1uEvsaEucsyJXe1P8IhkZuIO1vJSUy9N98gYsdtgULAQ/edit

*Groundwire, you may recall, is the bi-weekly national half-hour radio news program of the National Campus and Community Radio Association.  You can listen to past Groundwire episodes here:

http://groundwire.ncra.ca/

Use of excerpts of copyright material on radio - Fair Dealing

There is a fairly comprehensive article about Fair Dealing on Wikipedia:  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fair_dealing_in_Canadian_copyright_law

This section is especially useful:

Sections 29, 29.1 or 29.2 of the Copyright Act of Canada create the fair dealing exception to copyright:

Research, private study, etc.

s.29 Fair dealing for the purpose of research, private study, education, parody or satire does not infringe copyright.

Criticism or review

s.29.1 Fair dealing for the purpose of criticism or review does not infringe copyright if the following are mentioned:

(a) the source; and

(b) if given in the source, the name of the

(i) author, in the case of a work,

(ii) performer, in the case of a performer’s performance,

(iii) maker, in the case of a sound recording, or

(iv) broadcaster, in the case of a communication signal.

News reporting

s.29.2 Fair dealing for the purpose of news reporting does not infringe copyright if the following are mentioned:

(a) the source; and

(b) if given in the source, the name of the

(i) author, in the case of a work,

(ii) performer, in the case of a performer’s performance,

(iii) maker, in the case of a sound recording, or

(iv) broadcaster, in the case of a communication signal.^[12]

To qualify under the fair dealing exception, the dealing must be for a listed purpose and the dealing must be fair.^[13]

Question about "locally produced content"

Email discussion clarifies meaning of locally produced content.

Spoken Word CJSF Frieda Werden (sent by frieda.werden@gmail.com)	12:46 PM (35 minutes ago)
to NCRA

At the Gabriola regional conference last weekend, Zoe from CJMP commented about the CRTC term Locally Produced Content (of which, you may remember, the new licenses require 15% locally produced spoken word).  She says, if I understand correctly, that it doesn't mean just content that is actually produced in and for your radio station, but can include content from other sources that is selected for your station.  However, she says it doesn't include running Democracy Now, which she describes as "a package."  What I'd like to know is where independently distributed weekly programs, like WINGS (which I produce), fall in this regulation.  Are they "local content" if dropped into a locally curated show, but not local content if they have their own free-standing time slot?

--

Shelley Robinson via sfu.ca	1:08 PM (13 minutes ago)
to ncramembers, cjsfpa

Frieda,

The CRTC definition of "locally-produced" is "exclusively by or for". For
instance CJLY-FM had (has?) the show Japanese Musiquest that was
originally produced in Nelson, later Banff and then from Japan. Because it
was produced *for* the station, it (or at least the spoken word element of
it, if logged) counts as locally-produced. At least one other station
syndicated the show but it wouldn't count as local for them.

My understanding is that WINGS (and GroundWire) are *intended* for
multiple stations (ie. not exclusively by or for any one station) so don't
count as locally-produced.

The question of local curation is like the sub-category of reggae, a bit
tricky. I do that kind of show at CHUO-FM and when I last asked Michael
Craig from the CRTC about it, he said it would depend on the context. I
know no one likes that answer as it's not definitive....

Karen and I occasionally play WINGS as half of our one-hour show (and play
GW whenever it's available.) I would not count those minutes as
locally-produced. However, I do think we could make the argument that some
of our other shows were locally-produced despite using audio from other
places. For instance, last show we talked about the Resonating
Reconciliation project. We used audio from the Vancouver Red Jam Slam, an
interview from another time at a different station and had our own related
discussion live in studio.

Still, in line with trying to always build a buffer when dealing with
regulations, generally I would suggest the station should aim for a few
extra hours of locally-produced spoken word a week, so that should you
ever get audited, there's some wiggle room.

Hope this helps.

When an interview goes bad

Even the most successful interviewers can have a bad one.  This Jian Ghomeshi interview with Billy Bob Thornton is a classic case:


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IJWS6qyy7bw